Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Pragmatic Programmer: 20th Anniversary Edition (2023)

ahalbert.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–68 of 68 posts

Re: The Pragmatic Programmer: 20th Anniversary Edition (2023)

#61

Post by huherto »

software_writer wrote: post #47

A classic book. I learn something new each time I read it. Also, Dave Thomas, one of the authors, is looking for a job. > So, I'm looking for a job! > Internal or external consultant, devrel, training, team fixing, design, architecture. WFH or travel the world. > So, if you know any company that has a Dave-shaped hole, please email me. Some more about me on my site. Links below. > Many thanks. > email: dave@pragdave.…

I know that there are many reasons for people to work after 65. I also know that sometimes life takes surprising turns. But it makes me nervous to see people so capable as Dave that are well known in our industry looking for a job. What is the hope of the rest of us ? I love software engineering but I still hope to be able to retire to work on my own projects.

Re: The Pragmatic Programmer: 20th Anniversary Edition (2023)

#62

Post by dugmartin »

btilly wrote: post #14
dshah wrote: post #9

One of my favorite books on the actual practice of programming. The other one is "Code Complete".

Code Complete is my favorite, hands down. The Psychology of Computer Programming was also very much worth the read.

If you are into podcasts Steve McConnell (the author) was a guest a couple of months ago on the pragmatic engineer podcast. My one take away from that podcast was just how young and new in his career he was when he wrote that book.

https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com/p/code-complete-wit...

Re: The Pragmatic Programmer: 20th Anniversary Edition (2023)

#65

Post by btilly »

dugmartin wrote: post #62
btilly wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Code Complete is my favorite, hands down. The Psychology of Computer Programming was also very much worth the read.

If you are into podcasts Steve McConnell (the author) was a guest a couple of months ago on the pragmatic engineer podcast. My one take away from that podcast was just how young and new in his career he was when he wrote that book. https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com/p/code-complete-wit...

Yes. And if you read his other books, you'll see that he was trying to create positive change in programming over and over again, but steadily climbed what part of the organizational ladder he was trying to address.

That book, being the first, is pretty squarely aimed at shortening the journey from junior programmer to senior.

Re: The Pragmatic Programmer: 20th Anniversary Edition (2023)

#66

Post by Suppafly »

globular-toast wrote: post #59
tantalic wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Twenty years ago, I was strongly anti IDE and pro text editor. In the last ~10 years or so text editors have gained features previously only found in IDEs and IDEs have improved their performance and brought in features from text editors. I would argue the distinction between text editors and IDEs at this point is academic.

The main difference is "IDEs" typically contain custom, ad hoc text editors in them. They don't allow you to build transferable skills that can be used to edit any text. People who use them will typically use some other editor to make documents, another one for their notes, and one per programming language. I started using Emacs 15+ years ago because you can easily make it into an IDE, but it works for any text. Esse…

>People who use them will typically use some other editor to make documents, another one for their notes, and one per programming language.

I'll never be convinced that that is a bad thing. And honestly, by the time you make emacs have the features that dedicated editors have, it's not emacs anymore anyway.

Re: The Pragmatic Programmer: 20th Anniversary Edition (2023)

#67

Post by conor- »

IgorPartola wrote: post #11

I have read a number of programming books but the only two that really stood out to me and that I still remember are The Pragmatic Programmer and K&R The C Programming Language. They are obviously very different but foundational in ways that enabled me to get a lot of things done. I do still encourage people to learn C only because you could understand how the language works or a long weekend and it will help you app…

The book that's really stood out to me is the Kernighan/Pike "The Practice of Programming" as something that steered me in a really good direction when I was first learning to write code.

I really wish they'd do a revised 2nd edition using Golang as the base for the book instead of C; but otherwise it still really holds up well

Re: The Pragmatic Programmer: 20th Anniversary Edition (2023)

#68

Post by sfpotter »

android521 wrote: post #26
sfpotter wrote: post #7

Alternatively, consider being an idealistic programmer! - Fall in love with a single topic, regardless of how trendy. - Learn as much as you can about it. - Keep learning about it. - Learn about it some more. - Spend years of your life doing nothing but breathing and thinking about this one topic. - Let fads and fashion pass you by. - Don't settle for good enough. Try to build the best version possible. - Choose wher…

I have read many books. If you can only read one book about how to program in your life , I would say that it is this book: A philosophy of software design: John Ousterhout. It is 10 times better than the next best book.

I'm not sure if you're just spamming this response all over this thread or if you're replying to what I wrote, but I do actually think there's a connection. I've also read and love this book, and it does push back on the "pragmatic" mentality espoused by The Pragmatic Programmer and other similar books.

I feel like this comes from Ousterhout's focus on actually building working systems. The Pragmatic books are much more focused on how one might get through the day as a programmer working at an org, but PoSD is focused on the ins and outs of building software well. I find that Pragmatic Programmer etc. have little to say about this, and when they do it's usually either trivial or fluff.

I'm not sure if Ousterhout is an "idealistic programmer" (I'm not even sure if this is the right term...), but I definitely feel like he's a fellow traveler...

Post reply on HN